Motorhomer thinking of returning to caravaning

[RichD1]

I've just lost my C1 driving licence due to a medical condition, so I can either downsize quite dramatically from our current 8 metre A-Class or consider returning to towing which we did for over 25 years.

We have enjoyed the motorhome experience for the last 6 years, especially the easy going French Aires overnight parking facilities a lot of which are free, but would like to hear from forum members who travel around Europe staying a few days in each place. We normally spend between 5 to 6 weeks away, 3 or 4 times a year, but we do sometimes wish we had a vehicle with us to reach hard to get at places where our current motorhome is too big.

Richard

 

[Martin24]

Sorry to hear about the licence but welcome to the forum.

My thoughts are that IF I ever considered a motorhome it would need to be an A class from a space to length sort of equation. Friends have one and it seems so much more spacious than the ordinary motorhomes. Less living space wasted to the cab.

Anyway to lose the A class and the length may mean you'd feel less claustrophobic returning to the caravanning fold?

Personally that's what I would do.

 

[RichD1]

Hi Martin, yes it was the ideal van for us but that unfortunately is now in the past.

What I'm looking for now is advice on how caravanning can work for us compared to motorhoming.

We always said that if you were staying in the UK then it had to be a caravan as the UK doesn't have the motorhome friendly parking set up close to towns and tourist spots as in France and Germany. If you were touring Europe and long distance touring, staying only a day or so in each place then it had to be a motorhome.

We would still want to carry on the touring but how easy is that to do in a caravan. Our previous caravanning experience was based on holiday needs so we would travel to a campsite and then stay for a week or 10 days before moving on. Now we're retired we have more time so prefer to take several trips a year.

Richard

 

[geordiegirl]

We changed from a motorhome to a caravan and tour everywhere with it, plenty of space in the caravan and we also have a full awning for longer stays. We also find it more convenient having a car for getting around in, sightseeing etc. I`m sure you`ll enjoy your caravan as much as you did your motorhome, go for it .

 

[RichD1]

Hi geordiegirl,

When you say tour everywhere does that mean in Europe?

If so, how do you go about it? How far do you travel with your van? What type of sites do you use? What are the site costs? How long do you stay in a location? How easy do you find it for overnight stops?

Also, not sure about going back to a total outfit length of around 12 metres.

Sorry for so many questions but the cost of a motorhome or a car and caravan are pretty significant so I'd like to get it right.

Richard

 

[geordiegirl]

Hi Rich,we have just returned from Alicante with 2 overnight stops both way, we live in Normandy,France . We stayed on Camping Villasol for 4 weeks, lovely site, We never book anywhere, we just go. Most sites in France and Spain are about 15e with the acsi card. We have a Hobby Caravan 6.5mtrs plus tow thingy . plus car, and have never had a problem just turning up on a site, except in France in August I would book. We did Belguim last year as well as Spain and had no problems.
Hope this helps
The pitches in France and Spain are the same price for a caravan, awning and car as they arefor a motorhome. Ive never been asked for extra money.......................and ask away if you have any more questions. I`m not an expert but there are lots on here.

 

[LizziePope]

Sorry to hear you lost your licence, but welcome to the Practical Caravan forum and thank you for posting.

 

[DeliDave_]

we tow with a small campervan we use as a day van to tour around with the caravan as a base

 

[Hutch]

Hi Richard to add to Geordiegirls posts, I have been touring France for the last 7 years in a 7meter Coachman and a Sante Fe, toso maybe 11meters. Due to working in Nigeria and coming home for 6 weeks every 12 stayed in France touring for a month at atime We use smaller sites, normally but after height of the seasons we used ACSI to get reductions,
Finding all year sites is troublesome, sometime moving on every day, if thenweather is bad as a lot are very nice innthe summer but get wet in the winter. Came back last September From Perpingan over I think its the A74. MILLEUE VIADUCT, tugging a heavy caravan with a heavy car and at high tempts 35 it was a strain but lovely,
But all in all its an easy life to find a pitch, just get to a site after 2 pm and if there is no room (very seldom) move on. I use the Caravan Clubs Book for Europe book has 90 % of all sites in Europe.
Hutch.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Richard,

I'm sorry that you have got to consider changing a life style choice which you have enjoyed for so long.

I can't really comment about the space comparison between your motor home and caravans, as that is highly dependant on the models you are looking at.

However bearing in mind what you have told us about your typical stay pattern of several days in one place, it seems to me the caravan option does make a lot of sense, as it means you have the solo car to use for exploring the locality, leaving the caravan and awning set and ready for your return.

Disadvantages are that you will probably pay more for ferries, you are limited on speeds and it will test your ability to reverse an articulated vehicle.

There may be some compromises but I'm pretty certain you'll find it just as enjoyable overall, it may even be better.

 

[RichD1]

Hi ProfJohn, yes, got a bit of a shock when I went online to check on the latest ferry prices. DFDS were quoting £179ish each way for a daytime crossing from Dover in June and back 4 weeks later, compared to about £70ish each way for the motorhome. Do the CC, sorry C&MC still have 'caravan goes free' offers?

Been looking at possible vans and it still appears that the UK caravan manufacturers think we are all midgets. We want a fixed but how can they offer fixed island beds which are only 6ft long!! We are also looking at a much smaller European made motorhomes under the 3500kgs limit and the fixed island beds are all around 6ft 4ins long.

Still very undecided, the only plus for a caravan at the moment is having a vehicle to travel around with once on site.

Richard

 

[Dodger524]

It's worth checking ferry prices and options to Europe on the CMC website as it gives a wide range of options and prices. I've just booked for a trip to Ireland and found it very help full being able to see the full range of fares and route options.

 

[RichD1]

We have always used the CMC booking service as we've always found that they are usually about 10% cheaper than direct booking.

When we motorhome we only book about a week or a month max. in advance of when we go and then only a one way ticket as we never knew exactly how long we'll be away.

Last year we used the Poole to Cherbourg route as its only a short distance from home and we were travelling down the west coast to Spain and Portugal. That cost us £170ish each way, dread to think how much a caravan would be then.

What is the best sat nav POI database for campsites?

How much do the small municipal sites charge now? Used to be around £2 or £3 last time we towed a caravan.

Richard

 

[emmerson]

Hi Rich and welcome. I have a foot in both camps here, as I use a 16ft Classic caravan and classic Range Rover, and alternatively a 30 year old Autohomes camping car.
We have toured Europe fairly extensively for the last 15 years with the caravan, and latterly with the camper. Herself prefers the camper, but I'm a dyed-in-the-wool caravanner, although Anne has to admit that the convenience provided by the car wins most often! My main complaint with the camper is lack of space, as it is a van conversion, but your A class would negate this problem.
As for costs, well we always use sites, never aires, so both outfits are the same. I simply don't like what I've seen of of aires, where the vans seem to be crammed together much to tightly for my peace of mind. We very, very rarely book in advance, and avoid Europe in August!
Re the ferry costs, we're off to France on Saturday, Dover/Dunkirk, and we've paid £221 for car, caravan, two people and two dogs which cost £30 each, so the outfit price comes down to £161 return, out on Monday 24th April, return 23rd June, booked through the Caravan Club (sorry, C&MC). The price depends on the day you travel. I wanted to go on a Tuesday, but it was £100 dearer!
Fuel cost is about equal, as I run the Range Rover on LPG, and the Camper on petrol.
For one night stand touring, I'd probably go for the camper, but otherwise it's caravan every time.
We've been "at it" for over fifty years now, having tried both options over the years, but have used caravan and car for the last 18 years.
The acquisition of the camper was simply to try it, with a view to selling it on if it didn't work out, but we also use as a day-van, so we'll keep it.
BTW, be aware that retirement is a 24 hour, 7 day week job!

 

[RayS]

Sorry to hear the reason but confident you could return to towing with not too much problem.
Have to confess I'm an addicted tower for the past 50 years and would not really consider a motorhome unless I really had to. Many European sites are designed basically for smaller units - typically 10m x 6m so a big motorhome would be a liability particularly with relatively narrow site roads.

If there are just two of you, the fixed bed caravan (with several different layouts available and you have a medium size vehicle in which to explore and perhaps - depending on your choice - go into minor roads, hilltops etc. where you would never take a FWD motorhhome. Don't know your UK home situation but can't imagine taking even a medium size motor home shopping to our local supermarket on a weekly basis.
Towing is not like it used to be. Caravan stability is much better and you can get wireless camera rear view devices such that you can really see what's going on behind you. Consider a 'refresher' course of an afternoon with a specialist in trailer towing perhaps £100 but money well spent.
Go for it !

 

[ValA.]

You won't need to book - there are many thousands of sites in Europe where you can just turn up, unbooked. The sites used by the Caravan and Motorhome Club tend to be the larger sites, where they advise booking in high season, but even on those sites we have been able to find pitches available in July or August.

Buy yourselves an ACSI Card (www.campingcard.co.uk) (around £15.00 inc postage) and you can benefit from discounted sites, some for as little as 11 euros per night for pitch, two adults, car and caravan, awning, and electricity. These prices are 'low season' but this can be any time up to mid-July and again from the middle of August. Some sites even offer seven nights for the price of six or fourteen for the price of eleven.

You can stay as long or as little as you like, and pay on departure, so there is no pressure to decide in advance how long you might want to stay.

A good site for POI's for SatNavs is Archie's Camping which has POI's for more than 32,000 campsites in Britain and Europe.

We love caravanning and now store our caravan in France to make touring even easier!

And having read your post, our 'French' caravan has a fixed bed which is 6' 6" long, and in a van with an internal length of less than 6 metres. We also have an Adria caravan (2006) for sale, which we kept for use in this country, with a long fixed bed, still in excellent condition as it's had little use. Complete with awning. Reasonable price!

 

[RichD1]

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the input over the last couple of weeks but the pull of motorhoming was too strong in the end and I've placed an order for a new Carthago for delivery in September.

We enjoy too much the spontaneity and freedom that motorhoming can provide and we enjoy the Aire experience as there is so much camaraderie when parked up and it is so noticeably lacking when we use campsites. You feel part of the community and everyone is so keen to talk and help you park up even if they have to move 4 or 5 vans to get you in, which has happened on at least two occasions. On another Aire the EHU Borne was quite a distance from our van and our cable wouldn't reach. The French guy next to us got out a box of bits and between him and his neighbour was able to extend our cable to reach. He even gave us some of his dinner which was Tripe in Calvados a speciality of Normandy. Sounds awful but was very tasty.

The only plus for caravaning was having the use of a car which wasn't enough.

Richard

 

[ValA.]

You paint a somewhat depressing picture of campsites - because we have always found the sort of help and camaraderie that you mention. We've been helped on to a pitch many many times by a mix of French, German, Belgian and Dutch caravanners, we've shared food with an Italian couple who made their own Gelato, and pasta, and shared it with everyone around them, (and he came out with his loppers and took down a rogue branch which was brushing the top of our caravan) we've had a Dutch couple climb on to our caravan roof to shut the Heki when a storm threatened, we've had washing taken from our line and dried in their (heated) bathroom, when it was rained on, we've shared recipes and food samples with a German (wonderful) chef, and been helped with hitching up by two Welsh miners when my partner injured his back. These are only some of the occasions when we've received help. Equally we always offer help if we see anyone needing a hand of any sort - from help moving caravans, to lifts to and from shops and doctors for people who didn't want to move their motorhome, and lots more instances.

I think to imply that you don't get this 'camaraderie' on campsites isn't giving a true picture. People are people wherever they are - some are more friendly and helpful than others, but campsites have just as many helpful people as do Aires..................... !

We can be just as spontaneous too! There are many thousands of caravanners who just 'turn up' and find a pitch - just as you would do on an Aire. We have stayed one night on a site we intended to spend longer, we have spent three weeks on a site which was intended just as an overnight, and we have decided to move on at 8.00 in the morning when we had noisy neighbours and been on the road by 9.00 and installed on a campsite about ten miles away by 10.00! You don't need to book sites - and booking undoubtedly ties you down to a lack of spontaneity, but you can replicate this spontaneity just as easily on campsites as you can on Aires. We tour, just as motorhomers do, the difference is that we find it much easier to go off site and out into the 'back country' or down a narrow gorge, or into a town or city and easily find a parking space.

I think your post may put off people who are thinking of doing something similar so I wanted to reflect the reality on campsites that we've found over the last thirty-seven years.

 

[RichD1]

Everyone is entitled to their own point of view, I was expressing the difference we personally find when we use campsites.

 

[Hutch]

I have found campsites in France a great experience, with lots of freindships made, just one bad experience to share, A Moterhome got stuck in mud and couldn't pitch.. so hooked him up and pulled them out. Every one covered in mud. Not even a wave of thanks as off they went. . Freindlinest is not from everyone.
Enjoy your tavels though.
Hutch.